Peckish

I have told this first story before, so sorry for those of you who have heard it already.

I had an acquaintance ask me to replicate a quilt that her adult son had used when he was a baby. It was a simple baby quilt with a large penguin applique in the center, and a couple of outer borders, if I remember right. She insisted on paying me fairly for my time, made quite a big deal out of that. So I took a good look at the quilt and wrote a detailed estimate of supplies - batting, backing, fabric, thread, and also wrote how much time it would take to design (there was no pattern on the market that came close), piece, applique, quilt and bind, multiplied by a fair hourly wage, which I discounted quite a bit because she was an acquaintance and it really was a very simple quilt. Came down to $200.00, half for supplies and half for time and labor. Gave the written estimate to her and she had a difficult time disguising her horror. Said she had figured it would be about half that. I asked, well, didn't you say you wanted to pay me fairly? She took a closer look at the estimate and said "Oh, I thought you would just use fabrics from your stash, I didn't realize you would actually charge me for fabric!"

Facepalm.

Needless to say, I did not make the quilt for her.

A couple years prior to this incident, I had a friend ask for something similar, would I make a baby quilt for her? She was willing to pay me fairly for my time. I warned her it would not be like purchasing a baby quilt at Target, but she wanted a one-of-a-kind baby quilt and claimed she was willing to pay for it. I had her go with me to the fabric store. She picked out the pattern, the fabrics, the backing, and she made the purchase. I pieced the top, took it to a longarmer (I wasn't quilting back then, and she was fully aware of this). She then decided she wanted to have the baby's name and date of birth machine-embroidered in the border. I didn't have the equipment to do this either and told her, but she still wanted it, so I found someone and paid them to do it. When I gave her the finished quilt, I also gave her the invoices/receipts from the embroiderer and the longarmer, and told her to pay me what she thought was fair for my labor in making the quilt and getting it finished by these other people, which was my fault for not giving her a number. She reimbursed me for the embroidery and longarming and paid nothing more. So I basically did everything for free. Lesson learned.

It's just not worth it, the feeling bad on both sides. I don't post pictures on social media, I don't talk about my quilts other than in casual conversation, I don't offer to do any sewing, repairs, or quilting for anyone. My closest friends know I'm a quilter because it's hard to miss the longarm when they come visit me, but they know better than to ask.